[Report 1953] / School Medical Officer of Health, West Sussex County Council.

  • West Sussex (England). County Council.
Date:
1953
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1953] / School Medical Officer of Health, West Sussex County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Annua! Report of the Principal School Medical Officer for the year 1953 To the Chairman and Members of the Primary Education and Special Services Sub-Committee Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, I herewith submit my report on the work of the School Health Service for the year 1953. The School Health Service and Handicapped Pupils Regulations 1953, came into operation on the 4th August, 1953, and replaced the 1945 Regulations. The principal alterations deal with medical and dental inspection and the definitions of categories of handicapped pupils. The chief event in the year was the taking over, as from the 1st April, of the Crawley New Town, including the Three Bridges area from East Sussex. Whereas before the development of the New Town the number on roll at the schools was between 600 and 700, by December, 1953, a number of new schools had been completed, and the number on roll was over 2,700. In previous reports I have mentioned our unsuccessful efforts to get the co-operation of the hospitals in supplying us with information. There is still no change in the position, only two hospitals gave information as routine. I would stress the fact, however, that I have always received the fullest information on particular cases, on request. It is with deep regret I have to record the death of Dr. J. W. Dew,, of Horsham, in December, 1953. Dr. Dew, a General Practitioner, was appointed, on a case basis, in 1920, to undertake the refraction work at Horsham Clinic. I am deeply appreciative of the work done by Dr. Dew during his 33 years work at the Clinic. The campaign for the immunisation of children against diphtheria continued throughout the year, the field work being mainly carried out by the School Medical Officers. As mentioned in the body of the report the Ministry of Health introduced a new annual return for diphtheria immunisation for the year 1953. The return is based on the fact that it has been generally agreed that because individual immunity tends to wane with the passage of time an assessment of the percentage of children protected must take into account the age of the child and